Year: 2019

How retailers can tackle discrimination, bullying and harassment

Allegations of bullying and harassment are common across many industries and the retail sector is not immune. Recently Lord Peter Hain, a Labour peer, used parliamentary privilege to accuse Philip Green of bullying. Lord Hain said he chose to speak up after hearing “horrible” claims of sexual assault resulting in…

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Dunelm raises profit forecast for second time

Dunelm Group has announced it has continued to see “strong trading” across its business and has decided to raise its profit forecast for the second time this year. Since its last update on 10 April 2019 the home furnishings retailer said it has experienced “very good year-on-year total like for…

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Dixons Carphone shares plunge amid full-year loss

Consumer electronics retailer Dixon Carphone saw profits plunge by up to 28% this morning, after posting full-year losses for the year to 27 April 2019. Shares in the retailer, which owns Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World, have since recovered slightly to 11% down from opening. It comes after it…

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Online retail sales in May suffer worst growth on record

May continued the 2019 trend of below-average online sales growth, with a marginal 1.9% year-on-year (YoY) increase, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index. When compared to this time last year, which saw the strongest May growth for online retail since 2010, analysts suggest this means the state…

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Wyevale Garden Centres agrees sale of 11 stores

Gardening retailer Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC) has announced the sale of a further 11 centres, in four separate transactions to British Garden Centres (BGC), The Plant Area Limited, Coolings Garden Centres and Maidenhead Aquatics. BGC will acquire eight centres: Albrighton, Birchencliffe, Bressingham, Gardenlands, Hemel Hempstead, Louth, Tarporley and Wolseley Bridge,…

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Over 75% of retail workers haven’t had a pay rise in the last year

New research conducted by independent job board CV-Library, revealed 78% of retail workers haven’t had a formal pay review meeting in the past year. This has resulted in just 15% of workers in the industry receiving a pay rise over the last 12 months, despite not being offered an annual…

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Dreams posts sales and profits growth for fifth consecutive year

Bed retailer Dreams has reported an increase in both sales and profits for the fifth consecutive year. In its full-year results for the year ending 24 december 2018, Dreams recorded a 2.9% increase in sales to £309m, up from £300m the previous year. Group profits before tax was also up…

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Tesco mulls premium stores

Supermarket chain Tesco is reportedly considering the launch of premium, upmarket ‘Finest’ stores to compete with the likes of M&S Simply Food. According to the Financial Times, the supermarket revealed its plans to investors at a capital markets day in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, where its headquarters are based. This…

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Mulberry swings to £5m loss in 2018

Handbag retailer Mulberry has reported losses before tax of £5m for the year ending 30 March 2019. Revenue decreased by £3.4m to £166.3m during the year, and the retailer said the disruption from the House of Fraser administration “materially affected” the group’s UK performance. Despite this, Mulberry saw revenues increase…

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H&M sales jump 11% in Q2 results

Fashion retailer H&M has reported an 11% increase in net sales to 57.4bn in Swedish kroner (£4.8bn) in its Q2 results, compared with the sales rise of 2% seen during the same period last year. It is the fifth straight quarter of consistent sales growth for the company, but despite…

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